MELBOURNE: Big mining companies that rely on indigenous workforces or operate near remote communities have acted fast to curb the spread of the coronavirus and avoid a public health crisis that could damage their reputations.
Mining companies typically fly staff from big cities to work in remote areas in a practice known as FIFO, or fly in fly out.South32 said it had strictly separated FIFO staff at its manganese mine GEMCO in north Australia from residential workers who are interwoven with the local Anindilyakwa people on Groote Eylandt - and expects to keep the measures in place for months.
" are actively encouraging them to take the steps we are taking to support our own high-risk employees during the COVID-19 pandemic," BHP said in a statement. Gold miner Agnico Eagle, Nunavut's largest private employer, initially sent home its First Nations employees, who make up about a fifth of its 2,500-strong workforce, before scaling back operations and halting exploration.
A coronavirus care package organised by Fortescue Metals Group and its partners is delivered to members of the Njamal Community amid a lockdown during the global outbreak of coronavirus disease near Port Hedland in Western Australia, April 28, 2020. Fortescue/Handout via REUTERS Paul Mitchell, global mining & metals leader at EY, said the safety culture instilled in mining companies had helped stop the coronavirus from spreading.